Constructive and regular feedback from supervisors, colleagues, and mentors on your performance can help you learn, grow, and prepare for the next step in your career.
The Toppel team invites you to participate in SkillSurvey Career Readiness, a tool that allows you to streamline the evaluation of any academic or co-curricular experience to prepare you for a successful transition into the 21st-century workplace.
Experiences may include but are not limited to, academic work/projects, leadership opportunities, work experiences, internships, study abroad, volunteering and community service, and research.
Note: If you are enrolled in the Toppel Internship Program (TIP), your work-related performance will be evaluated utilizing the SkillSurvey tool. Also, some departments across campus already utilize SkillSurvey as a performance evaluation tool for their student interns/employees. Therefore, only sign up for this performance evaluation process if you're seeking feedback from other work-related experiences that do not fall under TIP or your position with an on-campus department that already utilizes SkillSurvey for their performance evaluation.
The University of Miami’s Toppel Career Center participates in SkillSurvey Career Readiness, a solution launched by SkillSurvey in partnership with the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), to measure how ‘career ready’ students are across eight essential career readiness areas following a work-related experience such as an internship, co-op, or on-campus job. Through the SkillSurvey platform, students and evaluators complete a 10-minute survey, rating 28-30 behaviors to measure students’ career readiness across the eight essential areas, which generates a Career Readiness Report providing students with insights critical to their career preparation and success. In addition to the general career readiness survey, SkillSurvey offers a library of 19 other evaluations, where approximately 3-4 of the 28-30 consistent behavioral items have been adapted to include aspects of job-related performance for specific areas such as Arts & Design, Finance, Engineering, Computer Science, Teaching/Education, Research, etc. Click here for a description of the 20 career readiness surveys.
The eight essential career readiness areas identified and defined by NACE are listed below. Proactively develop oneself and one’s career through continual personal and professional learning, awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses, navigation of career opportunities, and networking to build relationships within and without one’s organization. Clearly and effectively exchange information, ideas, facts, and perspectives with persons inside and outside of an organization. Identify and respond to needs based on an understanding of situational context and logical analysis of relevant information. Demonstrate the awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills required to equitably engage and include people from different local and global cultures. Engage in anti-racist practices that actively challenge the systems, structures, and policies of racism. Recognize and capitalize on personal and team strengths to achieve organizational goals. Knowing work environments differ greatly, understanding and demonstrating effective work habits, and acting in the interest of the larger community and workplace. Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals, while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities. Understand and leverage technologies ethically to enhance efficiencies, complete tasks, and accomplish goals. Each career readiness area can be acquired, developed, and demonstrated in a variety of ways. Click here for an overview of sample behaviors for each area. These sample behaviors were used to create the SkillSurvey career readiness surveys.
CAREER & SELF-DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNICATION
CRITICAL THINKING
EQUITY & INCLUSION
LEADERSHIP
PROFESSIONALISM
TEAMWORK
TECHNOLOGY
After you sign up to participate (see the “How Do I Sign Up?” section below) in the Career Readiness Project, you will receive an email prompting you to complete your SkillSurvey evaluation. You will then go through two quick steps to complete your evaluation.
Evaluators may include supervisors/managers, coworkers/colleagues, mentors, internship/volunteer work coordinators, faculty/professors, clients/customers, classmates, and/or other individuals who observed your work-related behaviors and can thoroughly assess your performance in a given role. To capture 360° feedback, students are encouraged to request feedback from more than one evaluator.
Here is a sample career readiness report. To understand each section of the report, take a look at this Career Readiness Report Overview.
After receiving your career readiness report, we suggest you set some time to discuss and review your feedback with your evaluator/s. This will help you develop a concrete plan to strengthen your performance in the future based on evaluator comments and suggestions. As you brainstorm ways to improve your career readiness level, check out this NACE Competency Mapping sheet for a list of LinkedIn Learning courses aligned with the eight essential career readiness areas. In addition, your conversation with your evaluator/s will allow you to identify areas of strengths you can highlight in applications, interviews, portfolios, and networking spaces. Here is a resource offering valuable tips on Making the Most of Your SkillSurvey Career Readiness Report. Additionally, the Toppel Career Center is happy to help you explore opportunities and options that can help you achieve your career readiness goals. To meet with a career coach during drop-in hours, please visit us in person or join us via Zoom, Monday – Friday, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm.
All University of Miami students who are currently enrolled and interested in receiving feedback from a supervisor, manager, coworker, advisor/mentor, or internship/volunteer work coordinator on their performance from a curricular or co-curricular experience (e.g., leadership opportunities, work experiences, internships, study abroad, volunteering and community service, research, etc.) are eligible to participate in the Career Readiness Project, powered by SkillSurvey. Note: If you are enrolled in the Toppel Internship Program (TIP), your work-related performance will be evaluated utilizing the SkillSurvey tool. Also, some departments across campus already utilize SkillSurvey as a performance evaluation tool for their student interns/employees. Therefore, only sign up for this performance evaluation process if you're seeking feedback from other work-related experiences that do not fall under TIP or your position with an on-campus department that already utilizes SkillSurvey for their performance evaluation.
If you’re interested in participating in the Career Readiness Project, please complete this brief form. Your completion of the form will allow us to upload your information into the SkillSurvey system and send you the evaluation link. After both your self-evaluation and supervisor and/or colleague evaluations have been completed, we will generate your career readiness report and email it to you directly.
If you or your evaluators have any questions, please contact: Keashla Marengo
Associate Director of Career Readiness
k.marengo@miami.edu
“A lot of times, we possess confirmation bias when evaluating our strengths and weaknesses. SkillSurvey has helped remove this bias by giving me concrete metrics on my skills, as evaluated by both myself and then, my managers. Through the platform, I compare what I believe versus what others see, allowing me to tailor my skillset to further enhance my career readiness. Overall, it’s easier to achieve my goals when I have a clear understanding of my abilities.” - Bryanna DeSimone, SkillSurvey Participant “SkillSurvey helped me put my career readiness progress into perspective from several different points. I utilized the feedback to gauge what goals I needed to focus on both within my current position and for my future. It was also nice to see the comparison between my personal view of my career readiness and how my supervisors perceive me. I was able to incorporate both their feedback and my opinions into my current career goals. Very helpful tool!” - Suraya Buffong, SkillSurvey Participant “I think SkillSurvey has been an easy and comprehensible way for me to get feedback on what skills I am strong at and what skills I can improve. I also enjoy comparing my results over the years to see how my skills have improved or what skills I should continue to work on. It is very easy to use and easy to understand. The skills I see on SkillSurvey also have helped me brainstorm on my strengths and weaknesses when applying to jobs and have been a good resource for finding skills to talk about in interviews and cover letters.” - Pasqualina Sagarese, SkillSurvey Participant